


Jealousy

by Dragonlingdar



Category: Octopath Traveler (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Friendship, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 16:03:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19727005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragonlingdar/pseuds/Dragonlingdar
Summary: Alfyn knew Kit's father more than Kit himself did.





	Jealousy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LandOfMistAndSecrets](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LandOfMistAndSecrets/gifts).



> This is responding to your requested characters of Kit and Alfyn, so hopefully you will enjoy this. Additionally, I am taking some liberties with Kit, since we were never told exactly when Graham left him.
> 
> As an aside, I am not your assigned creator; nevertheless, I hope you are satisfied by my offering as well.
> 
> Also, as I am a fossil: Nothing Octopath Traveler belongs to me.

Kit had a massive headache, and while he knew that the drink he was staring into would probably only leave him with a worse one in the morning, it was the only way he could think of to deal with the insanity and horror that he had experienced. Alfyn and a few of his companions had tried to explain to Kit exactly what Lyblac had attempted to do to him and the world, and even though it sounded so fantastical, it also felt...and oddly plausible. Nevertheless, Kit had needed a  _ very _ strong drink afterwards. It was when Alfyn had joined him at the table that the topic of Kit’s father had come up.

“So...you knew my dad?” Kit asked as Alfyn. 

“Well,  _ knew _ isn’t a really correct statement,” Alfyn replied. “He helped me out when I was really young. I got...very sick. It actually looked like I was gonna die. But, then this man came to town and, when he heard I was sick, took care of me. I...we only spoke a little bit, and I can’t really remember the conversation all that well since I was mostly feverish and delirious.”

“But, you still spoke to him?” Kit pressed.

“Well, yeah, a little bit. ‘Bout what he made to save me, actually. It’s how I...helped someone else in need. Payin’ it forward, y’know?”

“What was he like?”

“Who? Your dad?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t--you don’t  _ know _ ?”

Kit shook his head. “When my mother became deathly ill and no one in town or the surrounding environs could heal her, Father decided to look for a cure himself. He was an accomplished apothecary. If anyone could do it, it was he. So, he left me and my mother behind and went to find a cure. I...barely remember him at all. It all happened when I was so little.”

“Like, how little?”

“4? 5? Very small. I can only really remember his voice. His face is blurry in my memories, but my mom always said I looked a lot like him. I do, from what I saw after you rescued me. But, even then, it was  _ so fast _ . I could barely process what I was seeing--going back to being human after becoming the avatar of a dark god was jarring, to say the least.”

“So it was good, seein’ him?”

“I...suppose. I’m honestly not sure.”

“Then, are ya mad at him?”

“What?”

“Well, leavin’ like that, and then takin’ care of other people--people like me, just some random kid in a backwater town--and not  _ you _ ...it’d kinda make sense if you were. And then just showin’ up and leavin’ again after  _ you _ nearly bit it...well, I’d be kinda pissed.”

Kit looked down at the table. “I...never really thought about  _ why _ I wanted to find him, speak with him. I just...did.”

“So, it did help you? Seein’ him and your mom, I mean. Give you at least a little closure, right?”

Kit was silent for a  _ very _ long time.

_ Did it help? _ He wondered.  _ Why did I want to see him? Why didn’t I  _ say _ anything? I didn’t even...I didn’t get to speak to him  _ at all. _ I just saw him, and, after everything, he spoke more to strangers than to me...is that all that I ever was to him? _

“Hey, Kit. Kit, I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Kit asked before he blinked and felt hot tears escape his eyes and roll down his cheeks.

“I didn’t mean to--”

Kit shook his head, cutting Alfyn off.

“It has nothing to do with you,” Kit said, his voice oddly heated. “It’s just...never! I  _ never _ got the chance to even  _ speak _ with him. My mother loved him so much, always trusted that he’d come home and heal her. But, when he did, he just... _ left again _ ! Did I mean  _ nothing _ ? Why did I spend so many years looking for him? Why did I almost...become a dark god just to even get the chance to  _ see _ him? What was the  _ point _ ?”

Alfyn gently rested a hand on his shoulder, and Kit wasn’t sure if he wanted to lean into the touch or shove him away.

“Why?  _ Why _ , Alfyn? Why did he choose  _ you _ ? Why did he choose everyone except his own family? What was I to him? All he said--the  _ only _ thing he said to me--was that I had grown and that I should live on and live well. What does that even  _ mean _ ?”

Kit saw Alfyn move away his mug of ale and shift closer so that a comforting hand became a half-hug. 

“He thanked  _ you _ . He thanked  _ you all _ for making the journey, the struggle, worth it. Not me? Why even...why even  _ make me _ in the first place, then? I know that it’s possible to be a better husband than father...and maybe that’s what he was. But, couldn’t he have said a little bit more? I feel so...stupid. So childish. What exactly was I expecting anyway?”

“He was your dad,” Alfyn said softly. “Of course you wanted to know ‘im. It’s not stupid.”

“The question still stands-- _ what was I expecting? _ To...to be embraced? To be told that I’m...that I’m…”

_ That I’m more than just another person. That I meant something to him. That he always meant to come back to me, to actually be my  _ father _. But, instead...instead… _

“Instead, he never returned. He left me to bury my mother and then to try to make my own way in life,” Kit said, bitterness thick in his voice. His shoulders dropped as he put his face in his hands. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to dump this on you when I barely know you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Alfyn replied. “You’ve been through a lot. The kinda thing you went though can’t be easy on a person.”

Kit smiled sadly into his palms. “You care, don’t you?”

“Huh?”

“You care about people. You...do you have someone waiting for you wherever you came from?”

“Yeah, I got a couple friends waitin’ for me to come back from wanderin’,” Alfyn replied.

“And will you?”

“Of course!”

“Really? You’ll really return to them?”

“Yeah.”

“Why? Because you love them?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Because they’re important to you?”

“Definitely.”

Kit let his hands fall to rest on the table. “After my mom died, I think the only person I’ve ever been  _ important _ to was Lyblac, and that was only because I was  _ useful _ to her.”

“Well, how about this? Let’s become friends.”

Kit looked over to Alfyn. “What?”

“You and me,” Alfyn said. “We’re friends now, okay?”

“Okay?”

“Which means you’re important to me as a person.”

“...okay?”

“Which means you’re gonna come on my journey  _ with me _ . I’ll take you back to Clearbrook. You can meet Zeph and everyone. You can--you can live with me! We’ll be a family a sorts.”

Kit  _ stared _ at Alfyn, who was giving him a bright, encouraging smile.

“We’ll chase away your blues and give ya something to smile about, okay? ‘Cause you  _ are _ important and it sucks that you haven’t felt that way. So! Friends?”

Kit returned Alfyn’s infectious smile with a weak one of his own. “Sure. Friends.”

“And you know what the best way to start off a friendship is?”

“No. What?”

“Drinks!”

Kit couldn’t help but laugh.


End file.
